How was your gig last night?

[cheddatom]

Bit late sorry...

 

Friday night supporting China Crisis in Nuneaton. Why would they put us (Headsticks) on with China Crisis? Anyway, I love the venue, sound was ace, and we went down well with the 80 or so people there

 

Saturday night supporting Terrrorvision at The Sugarmill in Hanley which is the local big venue. It was totally sold out and it's such a pleasure to play here when it's full. Unfortunately there wasn't room for a drum kit at the back of the stage so we were in a line right at the front. Our bassist played to the bar staff and communication with the guitarist was near impossible. Still, we smashed the 30 minute set and definitely won over some new fans

 

Sunday night in Derby - Doors were supposed to open at 4pm, but that's when the promoter arrived with a curry. The lad on sound hadn't got a clue how to use the ancient behringer PA head. He'd never been to this venue before and was used to pro theatre gear. The stage box was 4 x XLR 4 x Jack (WTF?) and he couldn't remember what he'd plugged into which channel. Thank F for ear plugs as it was just random feedback every few minutes - that's the soundcheck AND the gig. At the end of our sound check we'd got a usable sound, so I took a photo of the head and sent it to the sound guy, but that seemed to have no effect. I got a little frustrated which lead to an over the top rimshot which lead to serious pain in my left wrist for the remaining hour and 10 minutes of our set! Ouch!

 

Here's the PA as I didn't get any other photos

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by cheddatom

[dmccombe7]

54 minutes ago, cheddatom said:

Bit late sorry...

 

Friday night supporting China Crisis in Nuneaton. Why would they put us (Headsticks) on with China Crisis? Anyway, I love the venue, sound was ace, and we went down well with the 80 or so people there

 

Saturday night supporting Terrrorvision at The Sugarmill in Hanley whish is the local big venue. It was totally sold out and it's such a pleasure to play here when it's full. Unfortunately there wasn't room for a drum kit at the back of the stage so we were in a line right at the front. Our bassist played to the bar staff and communication with the guitarist was near impossible. Still, we smashed the 30 minute set and definitely won over some new fans

 

Sunday night in Derby - Doors were supposed to open at 4pm, but that's when the promoter arrived with a curry. The lad on sound hadn't got a clue how to use the ancient behringer PA head. He'd never been to this venue before and was used to pro theatre gear. The stage box was 4 x XLR 4 x Jack (WTF?) and he couldn't remember what he'd plugged into which channel. Thank F for ear plugs as it was just random feedback every few minutes - that's the soundcheck AND the gig. At the end of our sound check we'd got a usable sound, so I took a photo of the head and sent it to the sound guy, but that seemed to have no effect. I got a little frustrated which lead to an over the top rimshot which lead to serious pain in my left wrist for the remaining hour and 10 minutes of our set! Ouch!

 

Here's the PA as I didn't get any other photos

 

Some nice support slots there with China Crisis and Terrorvision. Well done.

I've used many similar PA amps like that Behringer and once you know one they are all much the same. They were quite popular back in 80's for pub bands where you didn't need a sound guy and one of the band members set it up at a rehearsal and that was it for every gig apart from master volume LOL

Dave

[Greg Edwards69]

7 hours ago, cheddatom said:

 

The lad on sound hadn't got a clue how to use the ancient behringer PA head. He'd never been to this venue before and was used to pro theatre gear. The stage box was 4 x XLR 4 x Jack (WTF?) and he couldn't remember what he'd plugged into which channel. Thank F for ear plugs as it was just random feedback every few minutes - that's the soundcheck AND the gig. At the end of our sound check we'd got a usable sound, so I took a photo of the head and sent it to the sound guy, but that seemed to have no effect. I got a little frustrated which lead to an over the top rimshot which lead to serious pain in my left wrist for the remaining hour and 10 minutes of our set! Ouch!

 

Here's the PA as I didn't get any other photos

 

Looks like standard fare for many rehearsal rooms I’ve been in. It shouldn’t have been that difficult for the sound person to work out. Even our singer can use one of those!

[cheddatom]

11 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Looks like standard fare for many rehearsal rooms I’ve been in. It shouldn’t have been that difficult for the sound person to work out. Even our singer can use one of those!

 

I don't want to give the lad too much stick, I really felt for him as he was obviously way out of his comfort zone. However, we take our own mics, and make it clear it's for hygiene purposes, but the sound guy rushed on to the stage and started shouting down our mics to see if they were working - not very cool. Also, even though 8 channels isn't a lot to remember, I reckon it would have been a good idea to write down which instrument/mic is going into which channel. 

[Mickeyboro]

Played two sets of blues with the Otis Jay Blues Band in our favourite club. 
 

Regret selecting the 71 Precision with flats over the Sandberg VM4 with rounds. My fingers feel very sensitive this morning!

 

Guest sax and vocalist worked well. In some ways our temporary lineup has worked better than the original- singer/harmonica player has been away for two months.  

[dmccombe7]

18 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Regret selecting the 71 Precision with flats over the Sandberg VM4 with rounds. My fingers feel very sensitive this morning!

 

That's a surprise, would expect the rounds to be harder on the fingers than the flats.

Dave

[Mickeyboro]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

That's a surprise, would expect the rounds to be harder on the fingers than the flats.

Dave

Maybe I play too hard to be heard with the passive bass and ease up when I have an active volume boost to hand?

[Greg Edwards69]

12 minutes ago, Mickeyboro said:

Maybe I play too hard to be heard with the passive bass and ease up when I have an active volume boost to hand?

Maybe you've had an allergic reaction to the metal used on the flat's wrap?

[Mickeyboro]

2 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Maybe you've had an allergic reaction to the metal used on the flat's wrap?

Warning: this thread may turn into an episode of Casualty without warning!

 

Good point, but I felt it was an effort getting through at the time so guess I wasn’t surprised at the subsequent soreness. 
 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Mickeyboro

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

Maybe I play too hard to be heard with the passive bass and ease up when I have an active volume boost to hand?

Its an interesting one as i do turn my volume up with flats or coated strings which is deliberate so i dont need to play so hard. 

I do like the aggression with nickel rounds being really hammered, it just offers up a more powerful feel in a song but my little fingers get shredded so i'm currently using DR Black Beauties on 3 of my basses now and they are working well.

Dave

[Muzz]

Elixirs: all of the zing, very little finger-shredding... 🙂

[dclaassen]

1 hour ago, Muzz said:

Elixirs: all of the zing, very little finger-shredding... 🙂

And they last a crazy long time!

[Mickeyboro]

30 minutes ago, dclaassen said:

And they last a crazy long time!

My fingers: 67 years and counting… 🖐️ 

[dmccombe7]

Tried the Elixirs and still have them on my Thumb bass for past 10 yrs + but i do find the tension a little tight for me.

DR Black Beauties have a similar tension to my D'addarios nickel EXL's.

Might give the elixirs another try tho as things have moved on since i last bought them.

Dave

[dclaassen]

20 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Tried the Elixirs and still have them on my Thumb bass for past 10 yrs + but i do find the tension a little tight for me.

DR Black Beauties have a similar tension to my D'addarios nickel EXL's.

Might give the elixirs another try tho as things have moved on since i last bought them.

Dave

I’ve had wear on the strings where I pluck, but the sound has not really changed. I use the nickel version..

[Combed20]

King Billy Rock Bar in Northampton last night. Split the bill with Voodoo Radio. Played with my full rig, Orange Bass Butler through Orange LBT and Orange 2x10 and 2x12 cabs. Crowd wasn't as big as we hoped, but we went down well and Landlady said we'd be welcome back next year. Managed to race through 16 tracks in 50 mins. Bloody knackered today.

[Leonard Smalls]

48 minutes ago, Combed20 said:

Voodoo Radio

We played with them last year at Percy's in Whitchurch!

[martthebass]

After a few weeks off due to band members illness, covid and what have you it was nice to be back on stage. A nice sized bikers rally just outside Knutsford, first one of the season for us. We were opening on this one, the organisers know we can generally get a crowd up and ready for the night...and we did. Next outdoors one is the Farmyard rally in Helmsley in June, always a laugh that one.

[moley6knipe]

Excellent little gig with Clutching at Straws, Ship Inn, Pointon, derrière end of nowhere near Sleaford ish. Played well, small but drunk and appreciative crowd… home before midnight! Lots of gigs 20 mins drive from home this year. Ace. Hate driving. Sucks donkey.

 

Even with my ACS moulded ears a little battered. Time for fresh moulds and more attenuation I think…

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Pretty decent. Played a pub in Braintree last night that we hadn’t been to before.

Got a wedding booking plus a gig in France out of it.

[casapete]

Played at a nice village coronation event on the Yorkshire Wolds yesterday afternoon. Rather boomy

sound in the room - high ceiling and shiny flooring, but we managed okay. Plenty of requests though

nothing unusual, so an easy couple of hours. Home by 7pm so happy days. Rock and roll……🤣

 

 

[dmccombe7]

Punk gig last night with Emergency Exit in one of our regular venues The Riverside in Dumfries. Pub was fairly busy when we arrived 5pm to set up apparently due to local football team playing there and that meant a lot of very drunk younger guys falling about and being pretty boisterous.

Venue has recently been having problems with a neighbour noise complaints so not sure how long it will be able to keep its music licence. 

Had to start earlier at 7:30 and definite finish at 10:30 without fail. We finished at 10:27 how good was that for planning 

Gig started off quite busy but the boisterous lads had to be told off by our female singer for getting too close to the band gear while holding beer glasses and spilling a fair bit. They weren't aggressive but just drunken antics you might say. It caused a bit of concern for us tho and was very off-putting as we were constantly having to watch what they were doing. They eventually left for a pub crawl (mmmm that wont last long i was thinking LOL)

After that the gig went really well and was a decent sized audience. We had a guest singer for Sheena IS a Punk Rocker from a guy who always attends the Dumfries gigs and he did really well.

With the early finish i was home for 12:45 am so that was a nice bonus. Band played well and we had a great laugh thru the set. Audience were bopping away and dancing in the bar so that was good.

Few vids appeared on FB but they were taken from one side of the playing area so the bass has a lot of drop outs. The few taken from front of the band sounded good.

I decided to give the P bass another try last night and it worked really well on all of the songs, a lot more depth of tone and i think i'll maybe use the P now with the Punk band.

There's something about the tone of a P bass that has a warmth about it compared to my other basses.

Decided to try what many of the TB Mesa forum guys have suggested by putting my 115 cab on top of the 210 and it doesn't half make a difference to what i hear. I could hear the bass clearly all night. When i have the 210 on top i occasionally get tone low end drop outs because i'm standing directly in front of the cabs. For some odd reason the 115 cab on top doesn't seem to produce that issue. Its an odd one but it works.

Dave

[Franticsmurf]

60th birthday bash for our percussionist in the Hulla band last night. We played in a marquee of a sports club to around 100 people and had a great night. I was struggling with bursitis in my right knee so the guys brought a high stool for me. I went through FOH as is usual with this line up but had a small cab and TCE BAM200 for the drummer and used my in ears. Ironically, I'd just got a wireless system for the bass to allow me to move around, and I was stuck at the back for the whole gig. 😃

 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Franticsmurf

[paddy109]

My band played with a larger than life dep singer last night. Fantastic gig with a sozzled appreciative audience.

Something momentous happened - I started to bop about, bounce on my toes and sing. I've never done this although secretly would love to be a young Sir Horace. I'm hoping to replicate this in the coming gigs, although slightly worried this was a one off.

[CJPJ]

We played on a small stage to a limited audience in Leatherhead town centre last night. Sadly the rain ensured everyone stayed away. The stage was originally facing the high street (which would have been excellent with a crowd and some sun) but they had to flip it so the bands we playing into the shopping centre to allow any audience to have some cover from the wet. This proved challenging for the (fantastic) soundmen from the local theatre. We had to put bin bags ovet the back of the amps to stop them getting wet. Ended up feeling like an exclusive, invite only event 🙂. I'm sure the passers by on their way to the pub or restaurants enjoyed the background music. It was an event organised by the local community and it was great to support that. Some great bands on too - we were fortunate to be the closing act so it felt a bit more atmospheric as the evening went on and, all in all, after a bite to eat and a couple of pints we all agreed a good evening was had by all! Certainly a new and positive experience.